Ionizer

ABSTRACT

A small personal appliance is wholly contained within a unitary housing that is fully supported by its contact blades being plugged into a wall outlet. The housing includes needles for ionizing the ambient atmosphere and a carbon foam pad for collecting the ionized air. A drive circuit generate cyclically recurring pulses having a voltage which is high enough to ionize the air and low enough to preclude a formation of ozone.

This invention relates to ionizers and more particularly to ionizerswhich are small, easy to install, and easy to clean.

.Iadd.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION .Iaddend.

An ionizer is a device which emits electrically charged ions that cleanimpurities from the air, and also give a sense of well being to theuser. In general, the ionizer should accomplish its intended purposeswithout creating ozone, which is harmful to life. This means that thevoltage which produces the ions is high enough to ionize the ambientair, but is not high enough to create an arc or spark.

Most the ionizers are bulky devices which occupy considerable space andwhich may require skilled craftsmen to install. The ionizer usually hasa sharp point at the end of a wire or a needle to emit electrons underthe electrical stress produced by high voltage pulses which are appliedthereto. The emitted electrons ionize the air. An adjacent collector ischarged oppositely to the ions in order to attract the ionized air. Inthe process of flowing to the collector, the ions pick up particleswhich are contaminates suspended in the air. Therefore, the collectorbecomes dirty and must be cleaned or replaced at frequent intervals. Thenet result of the ionizer is a cleaner, more healthful air, and a senseof well being for the user.

.Iadd.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION .Iaddend.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide new and improvedionizers which may be installed and left in a very small and compactspace. Here, an object is to provide ionizers which may be quickly andeasily installed at almost any location, by anyone, with no specialknowledge, skill or training required to complete the installation.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ionizer which may becleaned with almost no effort. Here, an object is to provide an ionizerwhich has a collector pad that may be removed and cleaned or replacedwith only a slight and minimum effort.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a very low costionizer which may fall into a throw away class products that is used andabandoned when it needs repair.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an ionizer with asubstantially attractive exterior so that it may be used at exposedlocations in an environment with a high quality decor and withoutattracting an undue amount of attention.

In keeping with an aspect of the invention, these and other objects areaccomplished by providing a relatively small and lightweight housingthat may be installed and supported simply by pressing conventionalblades of a powerline plug into any convenient wall outlet. The upperpart of the housing includes an oscillator for producing electronicpulses that drive six needles which produce the electrons that ionizethe air. A pocket is formed in the bottom of the housing to receive anelectrically conductive carbon sponge which is biased to attract theions. Preferably the needles have a negative potential and the spongehas a positive potential. The sponge simply slides into and out of thepocket for easy cleaning or replacing.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the attacheddrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the inventive ionization device;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the inventive device;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the inventive device;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the inventive device with the collectorpad in place;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view (similar to claim 4) with the collector padremoved;

FIG. 6 is a cross section of a part of the device showing an ion needleand an ion exit opening; and

FIG. 7 is an electrical circuit of a relaxation oscillator which is usedto generate pulses with a square or spike wave form that drives theinventive ionizer.

.Iadd.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION .Iaddend.

FIGS. 1-5 show various views of the inventive ionizer which has ahousing 10, with the contact blades 12, 14 of a conventional power plugprojecting from the back and, on the top, openings 18-28 for sixionization needles. A pocket 30 is formed in the bottom of the housingto receive an electrically conductive collector pad or sponge 32;preferably, it is a cellular carbon sponge. The shape of the pocket 30may be understood by comparing its appearances in FIGS. 3-5. The pocketexposes a substantial amount of sponge surface area to an ioncollection. In greater detail, on each of two sides, a portion of thesponge 32 is exposed, as shown at "x". The entire front of the sponge isexposed, as shown at "y" FIGS. 4 and 5 show how a partial frame holdsthe sponge to expose most of its surface. Finger wells 34 are formed onopposite sides of the housing to facilitate a manipulation, thereof.

It should be noted that the ionizer housing is small and has been givena fairly pleasing, but not an attention getting, external appearance.Also, the housing is very small and is used at wall outlets which areoften positioned to be behind a curtain or partially concealed by apiece of furniture. Therefore, the inventive ionizer may be used in thebest of fine decors without attracting an undue amount of attention.

It should now be apparent that the inventive ionizer may be installedsimply by pressing the power contact blades 12, 14 into a conventional120 V. wall outlet. The electronic circuit within the housing drives theneedles to emit negatively charged ions that the holes 18-28. Thepositively charged collector pad 32 attracts these ions which must passthrough the ambient air as they travel from the holes 18-28 to pocket30. There is a phenomenon wherein the ions behave somewhat as a "wind",whereby a draft of ions is blown out of the holes to circulate throughthe atmosphere before returning to the pad. Therefore, after the ionizerhas operated for some period of time, the ions should be diffused over afairly wide area.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of a fragment of a housing to reveal theion needle location. Primarily for aesthetics purposes, the housing hasa raised somewhat domed shaped area 36 partially surrounding the tip ofa sharp needle 38 which projects far enough into the hole 18 to insure afree flow of ions into the ambient atmosphere. Yet, the needle is burieddeeply enough under the exterior surface of dome 36 to protect peoplewho may touch the housing so that they will not be scratched by the tipor shocked by the high negative potential on the needles.

The electronic drive circuit shown in FIG. 7 is a relaxation oscillator.The terminals 40, 42 are connected through the contact blades 12, 14(FIGS. 2-5) to a conventional wall outlet of a commercial power system.Two coupling resistors 44, 46 limit current and prevent a short circuitacross the line. The capacitor 48 charges until the resulting voltagebuilt upon its reaches a potential for firing SIDAC 54, which issomewhat similar to back two back-to-back zener diodes that break downat a certain voltage. When the SIDAC 54 fires, it discharges thecapacitor 48. Thereafter, capacitor 48 recharges over a period of time.The result is that a train of square or spike wave pulse forms areapplied at 49 to the primary of an autotransformer.

Gas tube 50 is an indicator which lights to show that the ionizer is"on". Resistor 52 limits current to a level which fires and sustains thegas tube 50.

The autotransformer 58 greatly increase the voltage of the square orspike wave voltage which is applied to its primary side. The twocapacitors 60, 62 and two diodes 64, 66 are coupled into a network whichdoubles the voltage at the secondary side of the autotransformer 58. Thediodes are polled to apply a negative voltage through terminal 67 to theneedles 38 and a positive voltage through terminal 69 to the pad 32.Resistors 69, 70 provide a coupling and limit current to the needles 38and the collector pad 32.

The operation should now be clear. Initially, SIDAC 54 is off, and nocurrent reaches the autotransformer. The voltage built upon capacitor 48reaches a level which causes an avalance within SIDAC 54 to switch it onand discharge the capacitor 48. This impresses a square or spike waveoscillating wave form on the primary of autotransformer 58. The outputof the transformer 58 is a high voltage that is doubled at network60-66. The resulting voltage at terminals 67, 68 is high enough to emitelectrons from the needles 38, FIG. 6, but is not high enough to createozone.

The electrons escaping through holes 18-28 negatively ionize the air.Those ions are attracted to the continuously positive collector pad 32.As the ions move through the air they attract contaminates which arethen deposited on the collector pad 32. When the pad 32 is dirty, it ispulled out of pocket 30, and washed or replaced.

Those skilled in the art will readily perceive how modifications may bemade within the scope and spirit of the invention. Therfore, theappended claims should be construed to cover all equivalent structures.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An ionizer comprising a small and lightweight housing with a pair of conventional electrical power plug contactblades extending therefrom, whereby the housing may be mounted bypressing the blades into a wall outlet, a pocket formed in the housingfor receiving an electrically conductive collector pad while exposing asubstantial surface of said collector pad to the ambient air, at leastone opening formed in the housing at a location which is remote fromsaid collector pad, at least one ion needle located at the opening andpositioned to direct a stream of ions out of said opening, drive meansfor cyclically applying drive pulses to said needle to energize themwith a negative potential which is high enough to create negative ions,but which is not high enough to create ozone, and mean for applying apositive voltage to said collector pad.
 2. The ionizer of claim 1,wherein there are a plurality of said openings and needles, said housingand said needles having a physical relationship that causessubstantially all ions to pass out of said openings and into the ambientair while preventing the needles from touching a person who mayencounter the housing.
 3. The ionizer of claim 1 wherein there are aplurality of said needles which are physically positioned to drivesubstantially all of said ions through said openings and out into theambient air in a direction which is away from the collector pad, wherebysaid ions are dispersed throughout said ambient air before they areeventually collected by the pad.
 4. The ionizer of claim 1 wherein saidcollector pad is a cellular carbon impregnated foam pad.
 5. The ionizerof claim 1 wherever said drive means is an oscillator for generating atrain of cyclically recurring square or spike wave form pulses.
 6. Anionizer comprising a generally elongated housing having a pocket formedtherein and at one end thereof with holes formed in said housing at apoint that is remote from said pocket, said pocket having an openingextending along a part of each of two opposing sides and a front thereoffor receiving a collector pad, and a frame for supporting the edges ofthe bottom of said collector pad, whereby substantially the entirebottom of said collector pad and at least part of each of three sides ofsaid pad are exposed to ambient air, and means for generating a streamof negative ions emanating from said holes, said collector pad beingbiased by a positive potential.
 7. A small personal appliance which istotally self contained within a housing .Iadd.having a pair of contactblades mounted thereon .Iaddend.that may be plug-in mounted on a walloutlet, .[.needles.]. .Iadd.needle .Iaddend.means in said housing fordriving .Iadd.only negative charged .Iaddend.ionized air out of saidhousing and into the ambient air, collector means at an opening in saidhousing for .[.collection.]. .Iadd.collecting said negatively charged.Iaddend.ions from said ambient air, and drive means for cyclicallyapplying a negative potential to said .[.needles.]. .Iadd.needle means.Iaddend.and a positive potential to said collector means, the voltagedifference between said positive and negative potentials being highenough to ionize the air and low enough not to form ozone.
 8. Theappliance of claim 7 wherein said housing contains a pocket forreceiving and supporting said collector means, said collector meansbeing a conductive sponge pad whereby said pad may be removed forcleaning simply by pulling it out of said pocket.
 9. The appliance ofclaim 8 wherein said sponge pad is a carbon foam sponge pad.